Irish Citizenship through descent - FBR questions

Hello all,

Has anyone been granted Irish Citizenship through descent? I am looking for people who are currently going through or have completed the Irish “citizenship through descent” process.

My mom is a U.S citizen, born and raised on Long Island, New York. She is seeking Irish Citizenship through descent from her deceased paternal grandfather (my paternal great-grandfather) who was born and raised in County Cork, Ireland.

We have spent five months collecting all the necessary documents needed for the foreign births registry application, but I have a couple of questions regarding the “before and after” process of FBR submission.
1. Once the Foreign Births Registry Application is submitted, will we be kept updated with any developments? If so, how will they acknowledge us? By letters? By Email? By Phone?
2. Any hidden fees, apart from the FBR application fee, that we should be made aware of for the future?
3. Currently, I think the standard “waiting time” for FBR acceptance is 6 months. Does this time frame still hold true for citizen through descent applications? (based on your experience) Or is it slower (beyond 6 months) or faster (under 6 months).

Thank you! Any additional information that you can provide would be a great help too!

Megan

You can find other threads about this: e.g., http://www.immigrationboards.com/irelan ... 40343.html

I did it almost a year ago (through the London embassy). My answers are:

1. No.
2. No.
3. Mine took 15 days.

barnaby wrote:You can find other threads about this: e.g., http://www.immigrationboards.com/irelan ... 40343.html

I did it almost a year ago (through the London embassy). My answers are:

1. No.
2. No.
3. Mine took 15 days.

How many days are required for getting the Irish citizenship? I am a British national and my grand father was Irish national? I want to move to Ireland now and gain Ireland national
My wife is a Asian (Paki) national. I want to take her along with me? Any idea how to deal in this matter. Thank you

You should use the British passport to bring your non-EU wife to Ireland.

Simply send your UK passport, her passport and the original marriage certificate to the immigration office, with a note saying that you are a UK citizen and want to look for work in Ireland and bring your non-EU wife with you. Then she will get the first three month visa fast and free, usually within one month.

When you travel to Ireland you should travel together if she is currently in the UK, and you have three months to find work. If she is travelling from Pakistan she should bring original marriage certificate on the journey (this is very important) and should say if asked questions that she is travelling to join her husband in Ireland, where he is looking for work. When you get your job you need to keep the payslips as proof that you work, and then the immigration will give her a six month visa and if you are still working at the end of the six months they will give her a 5 year visa.

You are a UK citizen, so any child born in Ireland is an Irish citizen and if your wife gives birth to an Irish citizen she can stay in Ireland until the citizen baby is 18 years old.

So you do not need to exercise your Irish citizenship to move to Ireland with your wife.

Most people in your position move to Ireland on the UK passport first, as it is easier to get a visa for your wife if you have a UK passport only.

You can register your birth in the Foreign Births Register (to say that you were born outside Ireland in the UK and you are claiming Irish citizenship) and then you can get an Irish passport.

If you get the Irish passport then your wife can apply for Irish citizenship after living in Ireland for three years, as she will be the wife of an Irish citzen.

If you are applying for social welfare you should always say that you are Irish, born in the UK to an Irish parent and that you are coming home to Ireland to live there permanently - complicated reasons, but this is the correct thing to say - that you are 'coming home' to Ireland.

I am using my Grandfather born in Ireland and have his documents which have different dates of birth



His Irish Birth Certificate list:

His first name (last name is assumed by the parents

His parent’s names (along with his Mother’s maiden name)

Place of birth in Ireland city and county

Date of birth



His Death Certificate:

His first name, middle, and last

Date of birth (This is 1 day off from his Irish Birth Certificate)

Place of birth which is listed as Ireland

His last profession (job)

His parent’s names as listed on his Irish Birth Certificate



My Mother’s birth certificate:

List his first name, middle, and last

His age only (this is 1 year off from his Irish Birth Certificate)

His profession (this is the same as on the death certificate)

Place of birth which is listed as Ireland



I do have his old passport (UK of GB and Ireland) which was before he moved to this country

His first and last name

Place of birth (country/ Ireland and city in Ireland)

Date of birth (Which is the same on his death certificate)

His profession (this is the same one on his death and Mother’s birth certificates)



I doubt they are going to be able to find his marriage certificate to my Grandmother, but if they cannot find it they will send a letter. Is that going to be a problem not having his marriage certificate? Is the age discrepancy on all these going to be a problem? On 3 of these it list the same profession and on 2 it list his parent’s names. Do I need to send his old passport even though he is deceased? I know I am asking a lot but I want to get this correct and want it to go through. I do not think I can provide anything else unless you can think of anything. I wanted to thank you dearly for your help!

Has anyone gone through the consulate in Chicago for FBR? I mailed my packet just over a month ago and I haven't received any kind of confirmation. I emailed via the website to ask for a status and still haven't heard back after a week. I am about ready to give them a call but don't want to do that if this is normal or "what is to be expected"

I sent mine to the Chicago consulate, but it was just delivered yesterday so it is a little too soon to expect anything. I did call last week because the link to the fees was not working on the website and I wanted to be sure how much to send. They have phone hours listed on the website, and I got through to someone on one ring.

My grandfathers birth certificate also had a birth date that was wrong, at least as far as anyone ever knew. It was always thought be June 6th, but his birth certificate showed August 20th. I did send an e-mail to the FBR and this is the response they sent me.

Discrepancies with Grandparents’ Date of Birth is very common. As most people were born at home it was often some time before the Birth was actually registered. As details were entered manually on these Birth Registers, entries could not be made retrospectively, so it often occurred that there was discrepancies with Dates of Birth.


For the purposes of your Foreign Birth Registration we always use the date of the Birth Certificate. As both your Grandparents were born Ireland, submit documents for whichever one you have all the documentation for i.e. Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate & Death Certificate.

The e-mail address for questions is: foreignbirthregistrations <AT> agriculture.gov.ie They got back to me within 24 hours on my question. It might be a good address to try for a status update as I think all applications end up in Ireland for processing.

I notice that people make posts asking for information on eligibility and details regarding the application process only never to return again. This is unfortunate but might signal that they were successful and so have no further need for the forum. I'd like to know more about the process and eligibility.

My great grandfather immigrated to Canada. My grandfather and mother were born in Canada prior to the 1956 changes in the citizenship laws.

Am I eligible to apply for Irish citizenship through my grandfather?

I understand that my grandfather is also automatically an Irish citizen since his father was born in Ireland. I am not clear if my mother is also automatically an Irish citizen. Is this correct?

Who would I claim Irish citizenship through? My mother or grandfather?

Sunpower wrote:I notice that people make posts asking for information on eligibility and details regarding the application process only never to return again. This is unfortunate but might signal that they were successful and so have no further need for the forum.

That's a common problem with forums. It would be much more useful if people posted the result of whatever they were asking about.

In your case, I have no idea. I would be surprised if you could get FBR from a great-grandparent, but it would be interesting to know what you discover.

barnaby wrote:In your case, I have no idea. I would be surprised if you could get FBR from a great-grandparent, but it would be interesting to know what you discover.

I agree. My understanding, after reading the relevant sections of the 1956 citizenship law is that if your mother or father are not registered at the time of your birth then you cannot claim citizenship through descent and that it is too late to enter your name on the foreign birth registry.

However, various posts on this forum appear to have a different understanding of this and report that it is possible to claim citizenship through the grandparent, not the parent.

Can anyone clarify this, please?

Does anyone have any recent knowledge of how long it takes to complete an application to be included on the Register of Foreign Births at the Irish Embassy in London? I'm confident that I have all the necessary documentation. Thanks in advance for any information.

Good evening everyone, I trust this finds you all well and happy. My apologies if I am in the wrong zone for asking this question so please feel free to re direct me if I am wrong.

My partner (Sherlock Holmes, yes I am not kidding that is his real name) and I live is South Africa. I am a British Passport holder and Sherlock (or Grandpa Shercock as my 2 year old granddaughter calls him) was born in South Africa.
Shelocks great grandfather and great grandmother were born in Ireland (not sure where yet). Grandpa was conceived in Ireland and born in South Africa. Pa, was born in Southern Rhodesia in 1922.

We understand that Sherlock cannot apply for Citizenship by decent unless pa and grandpa were registered on the Foreign births Register, but how the cooking blazes to we find out if they were registered or not.

It is pointless trying to accumulate all the required documentation if at the end of they day they were not registered.

Any assistance or advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

Our next option is to try and find out if PA, was ever registered as a British subject due to the fact he was born in Southern Rhodesia which at the time of his birth was a British Colony. We have heard that only if he applied for and was granted a British passport, would Sherlock then be eligible for a UK passport.

Eish (Eish is a term that is widely used here when you are becoming frustrated hehehe) the early 'boat people' really have made things quite difficult haven't they. But isn't it wonderful how much information you can find out when you have to start digging backwards into the family tree.

I look forward to hearing from someone and may all of you be blessed on the path you are seeking.

Regards

Mary and Sherlock (AKA Shercock.... I really do love it when the little one says it).

Hello,

I am a little unclear about which documents are required for FBR. As noted in other boards, after much difficulty it seems Ireland will now recognize my citizenship based upon my father being an Irish citizen born in Ireland. Officially this means I was an Irish citizen from birth if I understand it correctly.

So after I receive my passport I wish to register my children in the FBR. So my question is how far back do we need to provide paperwork for my children? The website states they will definitely require my information (of course), but if we are claiming citizenship through my father (their Irish born grandparent) then we will require his information as well. But the website does not make it clear how we are claiming it/registering them. Are we claiming their citizenship based on my father, or based upon my own citizenship? It only states we need to provide the Irish born grandparents information "if applicable".

Thank you.

androol wrote:Hello,

I am a little unclear about which documents are required for FBR. As noted in other boards, after much difficulty it seems Ireland will now recognize my citizenship based upon my father being an Irish citizen born in Ireland. Officially this means I was an Irish citizen from birth if I understand it correctly.

So after I receive my passport I wish to register my children in the FBR. So my question is how far back do we need to provide paperwork for my children? The website states they will definitely require my information (of course), but if we are claiming citizenship through my father (their Irish born grandparent) then we will require his information as well. But the website does not make it clear how we are claiming it/registering them. Are we claiming their citizenship based on my father, or based upon my own citizenship? It only states we need to provide the Irish born grandparents information "if applicable".

Thank you.

Your children would be claiming Irish citizenship via their Irish-born grandparent (your parent) - i.e. through FBR.

You need to provide your father's documents, your own documents, and your children's documents.

jsheerin wrote:Does anyone have any recent knowledge of how long it takes to complete an application to be included on the Register of Foreign Births at the Irish Embassy in London? I'm confident that I have all the necessary documentation. Thanks in advance for any information.

Try contacting the embassy directly - looks like all embassy/consulate websites use the same structure, so look for an e-mail address. I had a response within a day or so when I asked how long it would take to process my application from the Chicago consulate. Unfortunately the response was "at least 12 months". I understand it varies greatly by location though.

Yes it does vary by location. Irish Embassies / Consulates in North America are taking forever, whereas London process applications within a few weeks.

Unfortunately you have to apply through the Embassy or Consulate that covers your jurisdiction, so if you're living in Chicago you can't send you documents to London for faster processing.